Thursday, September 29, 2011

Buddy Study!

This post is for another fellow teacher blogger who wanted to know more about buddy study! So here is my basic outline of how I do Buddy Study in my classroom :

Monday:Part A: Introduce the Word Study Principle (this week the principle is short vowels). We brainstorm a list of words that follow the particular pattern, I make sure to differentiate them into three columns, easy, medium and hard so that when the students have words they are comfortable with.Part B: Words To Learn sheet. The students choose 6 words from their personalized Words To Learn sheet (remember these words are from the top 150 high frequency words that they were tested on during the first two weeks of school).

Once the students have chosen their words, they write them in two places. 1. Spelling List Take Home Paper 2. Index Card (stays at school)

One of my students spelling lists, the check marks are next to the words they spelled correctly on their spelling test. The words
without a check means they did not get them correct on the spelling test and will remain unchecked on their Words To Learn sheet.

This is Buddy Study with white boards. This is like a practice spelling test, which is done on Thursday with their word study buddy. The actual spelling test is done the exact same way, but given on a Friday. The students swap their spelling words (which are written on their index card) and give the test to one another. We practice using whisper voices so that each person can concentrate on their test.

Once the buddy has written their words on the white board, their partner checks their spelling. using their index card which have their spelling words written on them. The kids like this because they are like the teacher and can correct one another's work.